As bad as it is, there’s always someone doin’ it worse!” That’s just one of the pearls of wisdom dropped in Straw (now streaming on Netflix), an effectively tense action-melodrama set during a particularly rotten day in which a hard-working woman who only wants to take care of her daughter finally snaps.

Sherri Shepherd also stars in this feature about a single mother who gets caught up in a robbery scheme while caring for her sick daughter.

Tyler Perry’s Straw' is a typically melodramatic yet potent depiction of systemic miseries that lead to a hard-luck heroine’s police standoff.